Okay. I'm going to try to stay focused and slow down.
The other elements that we uncovered in our research—we did a fairly extensive study of qualitative and quantitative data—were that excessive alcohol consumption plays a role in the context of many legislatures and that the precarity of the nature of the work that happens in parliaments is something to note as well, in addition to the hierarchical culture of this particular kind of workplace.
We also know that sexual harassment and gendered behaviours impact different groups within the legislature differently. Different workers have varying degrees of power and differing employment arrangements and diverse norms. These characteristics mean that sexual harassment, along with other gendered behaviours, can manifest and affect different groups differently.
Many research participants in our work also talked about the potential ramifications on their own career and mental health. With respect to the question of training during an onboarding process, one person responded, “I don't think we've ever received any training on anything. We were thrown into the deep end, and it's trial by fire.”
Those who had witnessed sexual harassment in legislative assemblies were concerned about the personal and professional ramifications of coming forward. Many such witnesses were also personally impacted by these behaviours. Some experienced trauma, fear for their careers and worry about their safety and well-being in the workplace.
The last finding I want to point to is that many research participants who had used or considered using legislative policies found that they didn't always meet their needs. Anti-harassment policies that don't meaningfully support complainants can inadvertently cause harm to those who experience sexual harassment and protect the harassers.
The policies can create a level of legitimacy to the efforts, but if there's not also a stream around prevention and mitigation, then we can create undue harms in other ways.
As part of this, when policies don't meet the needs of survivor-victims, including mechanisms to ensure independence and clear and consistent communication with complainants, those who experience sexual harassment are at risk of further harm.
I also want to speak briefly about some public opinion research work that we've done to understand the views of Canadians on these issues. I'll just note one particular stat, which is that as we interviewed and polled young women about coming forward and thinking about a career in politics, we've seen an increase from 75% to 82% of women saying that they were concerned about online safety and harassment as issues if they thought about pursuing politics as an opportunity.
We also want to note that many Canadians actually talked about harassment and physical safety as concerns keeping them from stepping forward as potential candidates. Therefore, when you think about your long-term recruitment strategies as political parties and about having strong, great candidates, it's part of the piece that I think we need to pay attention to.
We regularly work with women and gender-diverse people across the country. We've been running campaign schools now for the last several years. This past year we've run campaign schools with more than 250 participants, and we know that we hear from them directly about their concerns about these issues. We talk about them, but that doesn't mean that talking is the solution. People being aware of the challenge means that they're better equipped to face it, but it doesn't get to the prevention and the other work that needs to happen. I'll—